If you love chocolate milk, or just a little chocolatey flavor stirred into your coffee from time to time, there's no reason to go buy an overpriced box of desiccated powder when you can make your own cocoa mix at home, ready for mixing, with higher quality cocoa. Here's how.

We've mentioned how to make cocoa mix in the past, but that recipe was both a: more complicated and b: now subscription-only, so let's give it another shot. The blog Sugar Bananas notes that cocoa mix only really has three ingredients: cocoa or powdered chocolate, sugar, and a little salt. Depending on your budget and palate, you can spring for higher-quality cocoa powder to get richer, deeper chocolate flavor.

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If you're feeling experimental, you can amp it up with a pinch of cayenne pepper for a little heat that compliments the cocoa well, or just scoop some of the mix into a zipper bag for transport or into the bottom of your travel mug and fill it with milk at the office. Do you make your own cocoa powder? Any additions to the recipe to offer? Share your tips in the comments below.